This invention relates to a ski boot inner shoe.
The increasing popularity of ski boots with rear foot entry has led to the need for modifying the configuration of the inner shoes used in ski boots of traditional design in order to facilitate the introduction of the skier's foot into the ski boot.
The solutions adopted heretofore provide such an inner shoe which only encloses the skier's foot, whereas the remaining portion, i.e. the portion which is intended to fit around the leg, is formed as two separate elements from a soft material which are either sewn or cemented to the front and rear quarters or leg sections of the ski boot to protect the skier's tibia and calf.
This prior approach has the disadvantage of involving two successive boot processing steps comprising, in fact, attachment of said front and rear elements to the boot.
According to another conventional approach, a complete inner shoe is provided which is formed laterally with a pair of cuts extending along a perpendicular to the malleoli, thereby can be opened rearwardly to allow the foot thereinto.
This approach, while being simpler constructionwise than the previous one, has the disadvantage that it comprises a shoe portion which requires to be opened after opening the ski boot.
According to a further prior approach, an inner shoe is provided which comprises a lower portion arranged to surround the skier's foot, to which lower portion an upper portion is attached which spans the skier's leg front at the tibia. The skier's calf is protected by means of a rear pad which is associated with the rear quarter or leg section of the boot.
The latter approach, while being advantageous over the previously cited ones, providing an inner shoe wherein the upper portion is pre-attached to the lower portion so that a single element only requires to be attached to the ski boot, has the serious disadvantage of resulting in the boot being made considerably stiffer, thereby its flexibility is accordingly reduced, that is its ability to swing about a substantially horizontal axis perpendicular to the sole longitudinal direction.